Let me start off by saying, holy shit, this is an amazing book. Originally published as 6 separate short stories, the episodes in this novel feature Margaret Sargent, who is based on McCarthy herself. We see Sargent, a intellectual bohemian, having a love affair that will end her marriage, working for a shady art dealer, meeting a man upon a train, going to an elitist dinner party, affecting the life of a married liberal reporter, and confessing to her analyst. You get a clear sense of what New York social world was like in the 1930’s from McCarthy’s detailed writing. Her sly wit hones in on its subject slowly and carefully. For instance, in the fifth episode ‘Portrait of an Intellectual’, you get the sense that she is poking fun at the man throughout the story. Or maybe that she is commenting on a certain type of person who was prevalent at the time. Parts of the stories seem dated—the attitudes toward race, sex and so forth, but other parts still seem relevant. A young woman, trying to find her way in a confusing time. Negotiating through a labyrinthine social network while trying to retain whatever scruples she had when she started. The random love affairs, flirting with Trotskyism, failed marriages, all vestiges of a struggle for personal identity. Throughout the book, McCarthy drops these wonderful sentences. This is a great book. I am sad to see that not many are reading McCarthy these days. That is too bad. She has such a great style and preceptiveness about society.